- Welcome to another episode of
"Behind the Scenes of The Waltons, Ask Judy".
This is where I take your questions
and do my best to answer them.
If you're enjoying these segments
please do Like and Subscribe.
So I take up various different questions
in these "Ask Judy" segments.
So if you think that there's a question you have
you can always check back and see if I have answered it
in one of the previous "Ask Judy's".
If not, feel free to put the question in the comments below
and I'll do my best to get to it.
So here we go.
Someone asked about what the parents or guardians did
all day on the set?
I had mentioned that they would knit
or they would read - things like that.
Or they'd watch the filming if they were interested -
depending on what the scene was.
They'd chit-chat.
Anyway, I happened to come across a couple of pictures
on the back lot.
This would be by the Walton house where you see
some of the parents, guardians,
and even one of our school teachers
engaged in activities, sewing and whatnot.
So, there you go.
Deanne asked, which episode challenged
my acting skills the most?
Ooh, that's tough.
It's hard to remember all the specifics.
I was challenged by "The Grandchild",
because I'd never had a child.
So, having to determine and make choices
about the actual "giving birth" - what that might be like.
I did research and did my best,
so hopefully it was believable.
The other one that was challenging was "The Tempest",
when Curt came back, when we found out he was still alive.
That episode was challenging for a number of reasons.
I found I had some difficulty with the storyline
and with some of the aspects of that,
some of the dialogue, I found difficult to find a way
to believe in that circumstance.
There were just some challenging circumstances.
And as an actor, you're always looking for
how you can connect to it,
to make it as realistic as possible.
So, that one was a challenge for me.
Jonathan asked me,
what was my favorite part of "Battle of the Network Stars"?
I did three "Battle of the Network Stars".
I'm very competitive and I love sports.
Sports have been my hobbies throughout my life.
So doing Battle, I loved everything about it.
I loved the competition.
I loved meeting all the other actors.
I loved challenging myself to do new things.
I think one of the things that was the most fun for me was
I'd never really played football,
I'd never thrown a football or caught a football.
And I remember taking a football to the set with me
on "The Waltons", 'cause we were filming
and having the guys on the crew throw the football
and help me learn how to catch it.
I was like for that, I didn't need to learn how to throw
but I say, I just have to be able to catch.
So at downtime when I wasn't working
or a crew member had a little bit of time,
because they were shooting something he wasn't needed for,
I'd have him throw a football.
So they, the crew was very instrumental in helping me learn
how to catch a football, which came in very handy.
I did very well in the football
in "Battle of the Network Stars".
So thanks for the question.
This question from Jamie.
"Did you get to meet Earl Hamner and his family
or see the family homestead?"
Yes, both.
I mean, Earl was around the set all the time,
because he was one of the producers,
he was a story editor.
He was just involved with the show all the way through
as a consultant and as a producer.
His family, many members of his family
came to visit the set at one time or another.
Marion Hamner-Hawkes who I portrayed
who was the real life Mary Ellen,
she came to the set a couple of times
and I got to spend some time with her and she was lovely.
She gave me this wonderful locket
that I had for many years, still have.
So I really enjoyed her company.
And I think a number of the other Walton
real Hamner siblings came to the set.
The first time I actually got to go see the homestead
was many years after we finished filming "The Waltons".
I believe it was in the early '90s
when they opened the museum in Schuyler, Virginia,
which is right across the street
from Earl Hamner's childhood home, the Hamner house.
And that was the first time I saw the actual Hamner house
and had a chance to sort of see the surrounding area
where Earl grew up.
So that was pretty special.
The family was lovely and very gracious about the show
and us bringing their lives onto the public forum
and telling stories that in some cases were based on fact
and many times just based on fiction.
So I'm sure they got tons of questions.
And I know Earl's mother, people would show up at the house
and knock on the door and want to visit
and she was always very gracious from what I understand
and would invite them to have tea, coffee, whatever
and sit on the porch and talk with them.
So, I'm sure that was a real treat for people.
Jamie asked about school on the set,
saying, "As a teacher,
I'm wondering how school was structured.
I can imagine how frustrated your teachers
must have been to be right in the middle of a great lesson
and then have an assistant pop in
and pull everyone for a scene."
(Judy chuckles)
Sterling added on,
"What was it like having lessons on the set?
We hear that child actors have to go to school on the set,
but that's always about far as it goes.
I would be interested in what that was like
and how the different subjects were handled
and what your school day or hours looked like?"
So yes, we did have school every day,
Monday through Friday during the shooting season.
We were required by the California school education
with the studio, all those rules and stuff like that,
technically to do three hours a day of schooling.
We had teachers on the set who were accredited teachers.
They were certified in the California school system.
And that three hours would be broken up throughout the day.
So, it was very frustrating sometimes to be
in the middle of something
and have an assistant director, production assistant
come in and go, "We need you on the set."
The teachers said that if we weren't there
for a minimum of 20 minutes, we couldn't count the time.
So, we would accrue 20-minute increments sometimes
throughout the day.
Sometimes you'd get half an hour an hour or more
if you weren't in a scene
or it was taking a little longer to set things up.
But yeah, it was a lot of popping in and out
and trying to pick up where you left off.
How we structured it during the day
was a little bit up to us.
It might be, "Oh, I'm gonna do science,"
or, "I'm gonna do my literature class,"
or whatever it might be.
I think each of us kind of decided
what we wanted to work on at a particular time.
We would coordinate those lessons with our teacher
and then we'd get to work.
So we did a lot of self-study.
But the great thing was that because we had
just a couple of tutors for six,
not everybody needed the teacher right at that moment.
And if you needed help with something
and the teacher was busy with, for me Eric or Jon,
then I'd just go onto something else
until the teacher was available and could help me.
So I got a lot of one-on-one attention, which was fabulous
on some of the subjects that maybe I struggled with more.
So, I feel that in many ways, I got a better education
at the studio than I might've gotten,
had I been in high school throughout that time
at just - at public school, because of the one-on-one time.
Thank you so much for all of your questions on this segment
of "Ask Judy", and I will see you next time
for another "Behind the Scenes of The Waltons"
or another "Ask Judy".
Thanks for watching.